Some rise, some fall, to get to Terrapin

June 16, 2009

Last night at dinner at The Cracker Barrel, a new friend asked me, "What is your creative outlet?"

I thought about it. I sing, I knit, I write... "I blog," I said. "With a group of women in Christian ministry. Some are ordained, some are discerning a call, and some of us serve in lay capacities. Also we have some supportive men. Women in ministry - it's my passion."

As we talked further and I described the RevGalBlogPals, who they are and what the group has come to mean to me, I wondered WHY. Sure, you folks are some of my closest friends...even though I have never met some of you. But why iswomen in ministry my passion? (I work in international education - about which I am also passionate - but this is where I spend many of my off hours.)

Because - I think - I see the descriptor, "woman in ministry" as ME. And I learn every day about the discrimination and unfairness that beset and beleaguer my sisters who serve Christ in the church. It happens,most likely, because of their gender. That is wrong. That is not fair. That has to change.

I'm a feminist and proud to say so, but my Master's thesis on French Feminist Deconstructionist criticism was never, ever a passion. I'm a Christian, and while my understanding of that evolves constantly, I am generally grateful for what that means to me. I have been Episcopalian all my life, and I fight with that a lot. None of this is static or simple. It's the confluence of those things, and what I hear from a wide ecumenical spectrum, that raises this to such importance. That is the MY part of my passion.

My family tree is filled with strong (Episcopalian) women, all of whom have been church leaders. I was raised to expect to participate as a leader. My grandmother and great grandmother were DOK's and Acolyte Mothers. My aunts have all been leaders in their churches. My mother was Sunday School superintendent, youth group leader, chorister, many other things. I have been on two Vestries, taught Sunday school, led youth group, sung in choirs, served as lector and LEV.

However... in TEC women were not ordained until the 70's, and even then it was irregular. I've never had a woman priest in a parish I belonged to, never saw a woman celebrate Eucharist until an Ash Wednesday visit to the Boston Cathedral in the late 80's. It blew my mind! The first woman I knew on the path to ordination was Mary Green, who was ordained Deacon from St. Francis, College Station in the early 90's.

So I understand that women's ordination is a new-ish idea, and takes time to spread. But it's so utterly logical to me, that my expectation is that it will continue to spread. We need to help it go forward. And not everyone wants that to happen. In fact, there are forces working against us all the time. So, there's the passion part.

As of today, I have been newly enraged at the refusal of a particular bishop to (in the immortal words of the movie Risky Business, "be a courageous person and open the door." Regular readers of this blog already know what I am referring to. A grave injustice has been done, and done, and done again. And added to, and insulted. We're not gonna take it.

I'll let Twisted Sister sing me out here:

OH WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT OH WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE

WE'VE GOT THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE AND THERE AIN'T NO WAY WE'LL LOSE IT THIS IS OUR LIFE, THIS IS OUR SONG WE'LL FIGHT THE POWERS THAT BE JUST DON'T PICK OUR DESTINY 'CAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW US, YOU DON'T BELONG

OH WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT OH WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE

OH YOU'RE SO CONDESCENDING YOUR GALL IS NEVER ENDING WE DON'T WANT NOTHIN', NOT A THING FROM YOU YOUR LIFE IS TRITE AND JADED BORING AND CONFISCATED IF THAT'S YOUR BEST, YOUR BEST WON'T DO

WE'RE RIGHT/YEAH WE'RE FREE/YEAH WE'LL FIGHT/YEAH YOU'LL SEE/YEAH

OH WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT OH WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE NO WAY!

OH..................... OH.....................

WE'RE RIGHT/YEAH WE'RE FREE/YEAH WE'LL FIGHT/YEAH YOU'LL SEE/YEAH

WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT, NO! NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT

WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE JUST YOU TRY AND MAKE US WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT COME ON NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT YOU'RE ALL WORTHLESS AND WEAK WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE NOW DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT OH CRINCH PIN NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT OH YOU AND YOUR UNIFORM WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE

January 19, 2009

I was saddened and confused that Sunday's Inaugural Concert, which I enjoyed greatly via HBO, did not show Bishop Gene Robinson's invocation. I thought maybe I missed it, so I taped the repeat showing. Nope, not there either. It turns out that the event began at 2:00, but what was shown began at 2:30.

Was it deliberate? Angry folks are saying yes, and I agree with them that you'll be sure to hear Rick Warren's prayer, tomorrow, on all your major broadcast networks.

Sigh.

I just want everyone to have the opportunity to read these beautiful words. Read them aloud, perhaps.

Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama

By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire

Opening Inaugural Event

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC

January 18, 2009

Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears

– for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger

– at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort

– at the easy, simplistic "answers" we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience

– and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be "fixed" anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility

– open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance

– replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity

– remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom

beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart

- for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words

- for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind

- reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression

- as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy

- and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe.

We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

November 25, 2008

We are not alone,we live in God's world.We believe in God:who has created and is creating,who has come in Jesus,the Word made flesh,to reconcile and make new,who works in us and othersby the Spirit.We trust in God.We are called to be the Church:to celebrate God's presence,to live with respect in Creation,to love and serve others,to seek justice and resist evil,to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,our judge and our hope. In life, in death, in life beyond death,God is with us.We are not alone.Thanks be to God.